The
assessment of Kent's defense as one that might fold by the 4th quarter
was trumped by the continuing attrition and resulting patchwork along
the offensive line. Starting at the top- the entire first season with
new coaches and new schemes would be a learning process for any team.
You have so many new faces to the starting lineup and once somebody
misses a game or plays himself out, it's a lot like being cast into the
wilderness. The upside is that the younger guys and the staff, given
time, will become the teams nucleus in a few short years. Right now
though, there will be growing pains.

There's just not
enough you can say about the sloppy play. The way they're going they
need to play perfect football to even get a lead big enough to protect
for the 4th quarter. And that's part of it too - it's not like Army
hasn't put themselves in the thick of games by the 3rd quarter. It's
just late game letdown that continues to haunt the team.

Army
is 2-5 but the season's not over. Up next is Air Force. As much as the
consistent losing stings,it is very much a game by game season. I
encourage you to hold out hope for some hardware. The CIC trophy is very
much in play and the preparation for Air Force starts now. As strange
as it sounds the chance is there for this to be a special season.

In
order for that to happen, Army needs to go learn how to win the game.
The team is seeing that they must go out and win 4 quarters, but they
are not doing the things necessary to finish football games. Off week
this week, with no advantage taken as Air Force is also on a bye week.

In
the process of it all, Army made Kent QB Colin Reardon look like an
All-American. There is something to be said about wrapping up the ball
carrier and keeping the play in front of you, but that is best left for
the coaches to say. Army lost pretty bad, and with that comes the
albatross...

Army now also receiving votes on ESPN's bottom 10.
I said it last week: that's what a loss to Kent State would mean.
Interestingly, Army's week 3 foe jumped Army in the Bottom 10 ranking.

There is only one place to go from the Bottom 10. Sometimes the motivation of a rival can snap a team out of the doldrums.

Kent State, which was averaging 11.8 points through its first six
games, turned a six-point third quarter lead into a fourth-quarter
laugher. Army was outscored 16-0 in the last 15 minutes and embarrassed
39-17 at Dix Stadium.